U.K. capital of culture mess: No country is earmarked to replace the U.K. as host of the European Capital of Culture in 2023, Winterstein said. A British city cannot hold the title, the Commission told the U.K. — as first reported in POLITICO earlier this week — as the scheme is only open to EU members, candidate countries and European Economic Area members. The spokesman added that any decision on a replacement would have to be taken soon as preparing to be a host requires a lot of preparation.

Next steps: Asked if the U.K. government had contacted the Commission since the story broke Thursday morning, Winterstein said he was not aware if meetings were taking place. On Thursday, the British government said it was having “urgent discussions” with Brussels.

What to expect next week: Jean-Claude Juncker will travel to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, for the African Union-EU summit. He’ll be joined by Neven Mimica, the international cooperation and development commissioner, and Federica Mogherini, the EU foreign policy chief. The full agenda of the European Commission is here.